Accidents happen
by BlackMH
Summary: Finn helps Bubblegum out in the lab. He helps her see that, sometimes, accidents just happen. Friendly fluff.


This piece is something I wrote after watching 'The Other Tarts'. I was just so moved by Finn and Bubblegum's friendship, I just had to write this.

This is a story about friendship and forgiveness. Nothing too romantic, just a friendly fluff fic.

…

**Accidents Happen.**

…

"Alright, be careful with that, Finn," the princess said.

Finn cautiously gripped the rock with the tongs the princess had given him. He maneuvered the mysterious mineral out of the yellow filled vial as it dripped a fizzy liquid.

"Ok, I got it."

"Now, be careful with it. It's highly volatile Fyworxium," the princess explained as she reached across the table for a bottle filled with purple liquids.

"What's this for again?" Finn asked, holding the tongs and the rock over the table.

"Well, i- Finn!" she shouted, seeing the boy hold the rock over the table, "Don't let it drip onto the table!"

Finn, realizing his mistake, quickly moved the rock from above the table to over the beaker he extracted it from. But unfortunately, the rock had dripped onto the table a few spots of the yellow liquid onto the table.

"Oh no, did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"I told you, the Fyworxium mineral is extremely volatile," she said as the liquid began to bubble and a hissing sound emanated from the puddle.

"Uh oh, is that bad?"

Bubblegum sighed. This would always happen whenever he was over, helping her with her experiments. She always hated how the boy would mess something up, but she knew he never did it intentionally and he didn't know any better. If anything, it was her fault for not listing the precautions of the chemicals they played with. For instance, she never told Finn that Fyworxium exploded upon touching any form of matter, except for the purple liquid in the bottle she had. At least, that was in her theory.

"Yes, Finn. It's bad," she said, making the boy frown, "But don't worry. I've been working on an anti-Fyworxium serum to combat the explosive properties of the liquid."

Finn brightened up at this.

"Now is a good a time as ever to test if the serum I made works."

She undid the cap of the bottle and poured the thick purple contents onto the table where the yellow fizzy puddle was. A loud glop of the purple was all it took for the hissing sound to cease.

"Hey! It worked!" Finn proclaimed.

"Good thing, too. My table would have exploded if it didn't work," the princess said as she set down the purple contents.

"Oh, uh…sorry about that," Finn said modestly, placing the fizzy rock back into the liquid.

"You need to be more careful, Fi-"

She stopped as she saw that Finn had left the tongs in the yellow water in the vial.

"Finn! Take those tongs out!" she shouted.

Finn turned his head to the vial and saw that the tongs were reacting violently to the chemicals. Finn hurriedly removed the tongs from the vial only for the tools to come out sparking violently.

"Quickly! Put them in here!" the princess exclaimed as she held out the opened bottle of purple fluids.

As Finn shielded himself from the fireworks of acid, he quickly dipped the tongs into the purple mixture. A loud hissing sound was heard as the sparkling tongs ceased their fire. The two breathed sighs of relief as Finn removed the ruined tongs from the purple substance. The metal had turned gritty, like tiny mouths had bitten into the hard iron.

"Oh man, those were my favorite pair of tongs…" the princess said, expressing her dismay.

"Sorry, princess…" Finn said, looking at the ruined tools.

"No, don't be. I didn't tell you about the voracious effects of Fyworxium. I never told you because I knew you wouldn't understand it," she said.

"Yeah, maybe…" Finn admitted, "I mean, how was I supposed to know this stuff makes everything explode?"

"Well, accidents happen, Finn. And now you know, so you can be more careful next time," Bubblegum said, smiling.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"Don't worry, I have more tongs in the cabinet," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Let's keep using this one for what it's worth."

"Alright."

Finn proceeded to grab the fizzy rock with the ruined tongs, being careful not to submerse the metal for any longer than a second. As Bubblegum held the purple liquids in a bottle, Finn toted the rock as he held the vial under it so that it could catch any dripping liquid trying to escape.

"Now drop the rock in the Grapuddium," she said, tilting the bottle a little to allow easy entry for the rock.

Finn held the beaker close to the mouth of the bottle as he shook the rock a few times to rid it of any spare liquid. He then quickly transferred the rock to the inside of the purple substance and pulled the beaker away. Bubblegum quickly capped the bottle and watched the rock sink in the mixture.

"So, what's supposed to happen now?" Finn asked as he placed the volatile liquid on the table while putting the tongs somewhere away from, to not repeat the same accident.

"The Grapuddium should sterilize and neutralize the volatile properties of the Fyworxium. I know it worked for small doses and matter afflicted with the chemical, thanks to you…"

Finn blushed shyly and rubbed the back of his head bashfully.

"…but I must determine if it can fully combat the explosive properties of a Fyworxium core."

Bubblegum watched as the yellow rock turned purple in the liquid.

"So, did it work?" Finn asked.

"It seems like it…" she said, bringing the bottle lower, "I need to do a few more tests before-"

KABOOM!

Both the princess and the boy were pushed away by the explosive force of the bottle she was holding. Finn landed with a gust of air knocked out of him, the princess landed much harder, having held the bottle when it detonated. Finn shook his head, looking around the lab for where the princess was and wondering if she was safe. He spotted her, lying on the ground, stunned from the explosive blast of the bottle.

"Princess!" Finn shouted as he lifted himself up. "Princess, are you oka-"

Finn stopped himself as he noticed something on the ground. A small puddle of red. A puddle of blood. Her blood.

"Princess!" he shouted again as he rushed and kneeled toward the ground. He shook her shoulders and turned her over, seeing her dizzy from the unexpected attack.

"…Finn?" she uttered, still stunned from the explosion.

"Princess, you're o-…"

Finn felt something slimy on his arms. He looked down to see the same red substance all over his forearms. His heart nearly stopped when he saw where it was from. The blood was oozing freely from a long gash in the princess's arm, a cut made from the exploding bottle.

"Man, what happened?" the princess said as she placed a hand on her forehead.

She then felt a strange liquid coming down on her forearm. Curious, she looked to it and gasped at the cut.

"Oh my…that's a big cut…" she said lowly, staring at it as blood continued to ooze.

Finn stared for a while before scrunching his face in determination and lifting himself off of the ground.

"Where do you keep your medical supplies?" Finn said as he walked over and opened a cabinet.

Bubblegum looked up at the boy, confused.

"Uh, what?"

After closing a drawer, not finding what he wanted, he turned his head and saw a small cabinet with a large thick plus sign on the doors. He quickly walked towards it and opened the doors. He analyzed the contents with his gaze before quickly taking out the supplies he needed. He took from the cabinet a roll of tape, some gauze, a rubber strap, a cloth, and a bottle of alcohol. He quickly carried the items over to the princess and gently dropped the items on the floor as he kneeled downward.

"Uh, Finn, are you sure…?"

The princess said nothing as he took her arm in one hand and held a rubber strap in the other.

"Finn, wait! You don't know what you're…"

The princess silenced herself as Finn ignored her pleas and began to tie up her arm above where the wound was. He tied the band very tightly, stopping the flow of blood from leaving her arm. He then took a cloth and opened the bottle of alcohol and dabbed the cloth with the liquid.

'He's doing the exact procedure…' she thought.

Finn took her arm again and brought the cloth near her arm. Bubblegum knew what was coming.

"Brace yourself," Finn said in a low serious tone.

Bubblegum bit her lip as Finn began wiping the wound with the cloth. The searing burning sensation of the alcohol coursed through her nerves as he did this, but she tried her best not to utter a cry of pain. As Finn wiped, he felt something against the cloth the further up the wound he went. He looked closer and saw a shard of glass from the bottle that exploded, peeking out from the princess's flesh. Holding her arm through the cloth, he gripped the shard with his fingers and carefully pried it out. Bubblegum was hurting, but she tried not to utter any noise of pain. But as the boy removed the larger than it appeared glass shard from her flesh, she muttered a small groan of pain. The boy paid the sound no mind as he discarded the glass and continued cleaning the arm wound.

With the alcohol swabbing complete, he placed the cloth on the floor and grabbed a tube of antibiotic cream. He uncapped it and squeezed the paste onto the cut, unable to bleed as much thanks to the rubber band tying down the vessels. With the appropriate amount of cream applied, he capped the antibiotic and reached for the gauze and tape. He placed the gauze onto the cream and over the wound, relying on the princess's cooperation to balance the gauze so that it wouldn't fall. He then gripped a small lip of the tape and pulled out a few inches from the roll. He began wrapping the arm and the gauze with the medical tape, covering every inch of the arm where the wound was inflicted. He made sure not to wrap it too tightly but just tight enough so that the bandages wouldn't fall. He did, however, made sure that the deeper part of the gash was wrapped tighter than the rest of the wound.

With the last stretch of tape blanketing the rest of the gauze, he clipped it with his teeth and patted the bandages, assured of their place. He finally removed the rubber strap from Bubblegum's arm, freeing her flow of blood into her arm.

"Phew, done…" Finn said as he reclined backwards.

The princess looked at her bandage, marveled at how well Finn had tied up the wound, and properly too. She had never expected him of being capable of such marvelous tending skills. But then again, there were many things he could do that still astounded her.

"Finn…" she began, "…where did you learn how to do that?"

Finn looked into her eyes, a caring look exchanged between the two.

"…well, Jake taught me, mostly," he explained, "He said I had to…it was part of the safety protocols of being an adventurer."

Bubblegum looked back at the bandages that wrapped around her arm. She thought back to the steps Finn took and reviewed them, noting how well he followed the standard procedure from first aid in case of a severe graze. She, only then, noticed that the bandages were tightly wrapped higher up her forearm, where the slash was deeper. Incredible work.

"Finn…" she asked, "…how…often does this happen to you?"

Finn looked at the princess oddly before he realized what she meant by that.

"Oh, well…you know how I run around Ooo unprotected and junk. It's…kind of frequent, now that I think about it."

"…you mean, the deep cuts?"

Finn tilted his head downward.

"Well, once…when I jumped over a bramble wall, I scraped my thigh pretty deeply."

He lifted his shorts to show the princess the scar he acquired from the event. He blushed a little as he was showing his right thigh to the girl he liked, and his underwear could be seen in the shadows of his pants. Bubblegum saw the scar on his thigh, which was actually two little marks from the thorns that scratched him.

"I didn't pay attention to them at first, because someone was in trouble at the time. And when I had time for myself, I washed myself up at a stream nearby. I didn't tell Jake about it because I wanted to do it on my own because he always told me to be careful and junk. Luckily he didn't find me until after I finished bandaging myself. I still haven't told him about it to this day…"

"…and why not?"

"Because, I always hate how he scolds me about why I should look where I'm going and not to get myself hurt by stupid stuff. I know that. It was an accident. He doesn't have to tell me…"

Bubblegum then realized the kinds of things she had been telling Finn whenever he messed up. He never tried to fix it himself, he never tried to hide the problem. Whenever something went awry and it was his fault, he would always tell her firstly whenever it happened.

So, why was it different for her than for Jake?

"…so, are you ever angry at me whenever I tell you the same thing?"

Finn looked up into the princess's face. There was slight disbelief in his look, as if he was taken aback that he'd ever get mad at the princess for anything.

"…no…" he said as he looked down, "I don't get mad at you…because, I don't know if what I did was wrong. I always depend on you to help me whenever something bad happens or I blow something up. Because, you're the only one I know who can fix it…"

Bubblegum felt touched. It was sweet of him to never grow angry at her for expressing distress over an accident, even if he had every right to be. It was true, though, that most of the accidents he caused were a result of his curiosity or a missing detail she failed to inform him of. In hindsight, most of his accidents were her own fault for not enlightening Finn on the chemicals he was messing with.

"Well, Finn, if it makes you feel better, it's just as much as my fault half of the time," she said.

Finn looked up in surprise, "But you're so smart. You know everything. How could anything be your fault?"

"Well, I don't know everything…" she said, "I mean, most of the things we work on are elements that I have yet to understand. And I am never sure of the results. But you must understand that all of the accidents you caused were because you didn't know, and I did."

She looked to the ground and noticed the Fyworxium rock on the floor, soaked in the purple contents that were once in a bottle. She reached for it and picked it up with her undamaged arm.

"For example, you didn't know that Fyworxium causes erosion and combustion in all matter it touches, but I knew," she said as she held the rock for him to see, "I'm just as much to blame as you are for the accident."

Finn looked at the rock intently, as it had caused the explosion and grazed the princess's arm.

Bubblegum lowered the rock as a realization came to her head.

"But…this time, it was my fault…" she said, "I should have anticipated the pressure of the Fyworxium core being irrepressible by the Grapuddium. I should have anticipated that the pressure of the chemicals clashing causing an explosion…"

Finn looked at the princess solemnly.

"Bubblegum, we both say that a lot. I should have, if only, why, and other such things," he said, lifting himself off of the ground and onto his feet, "but it was an accident, and nothing else. Let's just be thankful it wasn't any worse than it could have been."

Bubblegum looked at the boy as he held a hand out to her, to assist her up off the ground. She smiled, reached for it with her unharmed arm, and grabbed it.

"Yeah, you're right. No crying over spilt milk," she said as she was lifted up, "I mean, it wasn't the whole gallon, at least."

Finn chuckled. Bubblegum looked at her hand as it gripped his. She looked at her other hand, slightly charred from the exploding bottle. All she had to protect herself was surgeon gloves.

"You know, I should have been wearing thicker gloves, just in case," she said.

Finn smiled, "Well, you just forgot, that's all. And now you know, so you can get it right the next time."

Bubblegum smiled. "I guess so…"

The two of them sighed as they looked on the floor at the mess made by the explosion. Shards of glass all over the floor along with a mess of Grapuddium close by the table. The two reached for the janitor's closet and fetched the supplies they needed to clean up the lab. Finn swept the glass as Bubblegum mopped the purple substance. She said she knew how to properly dispose of the chemicals so she was going to handle it. As the two cleaned up the lab, only one thought went through the minds as they glanced at each other.

'Accidents happen,' they thought.

…

I hope you can see the friendship these two have like I can see. Notice that accidents Finn causes are a recurring element in the episodes, and I felt like delving into this level of their relationship and how the two are able to stay good friends.

Or you just really liked it. In that case, review!


End file.
